page_title: 15th Anti-Aircraft Brigade (United Kingdom)
section_title: Gibraltar 'Blitz'
hierarchical_section_title: 15th Anti-Aircraft Brigade (United Kingdom) / History / Gibraltar 'Blitz'
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army on Gibraltar 1941 White Rock Battery showing a 3.7-inch mobile anti-aircraft gun, November 1941.
context_page_description: 15th Anti-Aircraft Brigade was an air defence formation of the Royal Artillery which saw service during the middle years of World War II. Before formation of the brigade, there were no official 'AA formations' on Gibraltar, but this shortly changed following the Battle of France. The brigade continued to serve as the prime AA defence formation until it was disbanded in 1944.
context_section_description: Among the many tasks facing 15th AA Brigade was the integration of AA fire in defence against sea or land invasion, in which it played an important part. Equally important was the careful distribution of gun and radar positions to ensure the most effective converge from the increased firepower and the constant practice of day and night barrages, in which live firing was regularly employed and closely recorded, to eliminate errors and weak spots. Aware of the vulnerability of positions to direct attack after opening fire, each AA position was given a 20mm Oerlikon for self-defence. The basis of the plan for the revised layer was to bring the fire of 20 HAA guns to bear on a target travelling at 240 mph, approaching from any direction and at a typical height of 12,000 feet.
  In January 1942, the Governor of Gibraltar, General the Viscount John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort (Lord Gort) wrote to the War Office asking for more HAA guns, preferably 5.25 inch heavy AA guns, for GLII sets with semi-automatic plotters and another 8 x Bofors 40 mm gun (LAA guns). Part of this request was due to 15th AA Brigade's wish to provide the North airfield with its own LAA defence; hitherto it had depended on the main layout for coverage. Nothing was sent, however, other than 3-inch rockets and their launchers and the airfield received only a small deployment of 20 mm Polsten and Bofors 40 mm guns together with some machine-guns, all withdrawn from other positions, and three searchlights.
  During the whole of 1942, there were six bombing raids on Gibraltar, two of which were unidentified, and 18 reconnaissance overflights, all but two of them German. Four aircraft were shot down and others crash-landed in Spain. Some of the Italian raids missed their targets and dropped their bombs in Spanish territory, and Spanish AA guns sometimes opened fire as a raid passed towards them. By the end of 1942, the AA defences of Gibraltar reached a peak of scale and efficiency, but the threat had dwindled. There were only two or three reconnaissance flights during 1943.
caption: Mobile 3.7-inch HAA gun deployed at White Rock Battery, November 1941
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